Sei Investments Co. Grows Position in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 190.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 192,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 126,177 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned about 0.17% of Lazard worth $8,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $80,169,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Lazard by 2,763.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,405,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,356,800 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Lazard by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,807,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $427,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047,869 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the second quarter valued at about $34,305,000. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,424,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LAZ. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered Lazard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Argus dropped their price objective on Lazard from $63.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Lazard from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.38.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $42.41 on Monday. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.67 and a 1 year high of $58.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 2.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $43.77 and its 200 day moving average is $46.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.43.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.22). Lazard had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 6.95%.The company had revenue of $786.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $736.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. Lazard’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.04%.

Lazard Profile

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.